Lola's Summer Garden

Many of you know Lola. You all know she gardens and is a faithful reader and commenter of not only my blog, but of many, many others. I see her everywhere on the net. This is unique in that she does not blog herself. She simply enjoys talking, sharing and commenting. A rarity for an individual who does not herself blog. Today is Lola's post. She gets to be the blogger herself and share her lovely garden with you all.

Here in my zone 8B or 9 garden, gardening is a bit different from what I am used to. Being from Tennessee I am used to a Zone 6 garden; where I probably could never grow pinecone ginger (Zingiber zerumbet) as pictured above. Although I've lived in different states, I didn't get "involved" with gardening until the last few years. More so as a hobby or something to do. I think I got the gardening bug from my mother.
Now that I have plenty of time on my hands and since I started reading Tina's blog, I have begun to pay more attention to the plants and what they do. I have learned a lot from Tina.

I plant veggies and flowers in pots, as it's easier to tend them. I do have some plants that just have to be in the ground. Most of them I planted before my accident. But now I've learned how to do more.

As for the rose arbor where the gourds are, the gourd vine attached itself to a rose cane and then it grew to the top like it is now. If you look close you can see it growing out of the black plastic tub. Imagine my surprise when I found the gourds growing as I thought the vines were dead. I found the gourds just before yanking the vines out. I'm glad now that I didn't.

To the right of the arbor is my new garden that I just started. I planted a Red Crepe Myrtle, and behind that a Flowering Almond dug up from a different part of the yard. I will add more as the myrtle grows. This new garden will take up the corner of the chain link fence. I hope it grows the way I have it pictured in my mind.I also have an asparagus garden that is to the left of the arbor if you are facing East. From these plants is where my volunteer asparagus is coming from. You know how seeds and birds go together.See the Pinecone Ginger below? It grows in the back of my house. Now for the story of my using the sticky liquid that is in the "flower". I broke off a couple blooms and put them in a glass of water. I put one in the shower so I could reach it. I first shampooed my hair then rinsed with the liquid (sticky) found in the bloom. The smell of ginger was so pleasant. I noticed that the tangles were easier to comb out afterward. When my hair was wet it was "squeaky" clean. Now that it has dried it feels so soft and there is a hint of ginger smell to my hair. I will use it again to rinse my hair. I wonder if I could freeze it for later use!!! Hmmmmm.


Those are NOT tomatoes pictured to the left of the pinecone ginger; they are persimmons. Do you notice how much my persimmons look like tomatoes? It is easy to confuse the two.

Lola

in the garden....

Thank you so much for sharing your gardens with us Lola and this lovely post today!